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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26163184">Reboot, <ERROR></a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/freekat13/pseuds/freekat13'>freekat13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Illuminae Files - Amie Kaufman &amp; Jay Kristoff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:34:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26163184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/freekat13/pseuds/freekat13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lilly (OC), starts work on the Pompeii, a jump station in the Kerenza system. She downloads a program from crash remains, not knowing they contain a certain special AI.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>AIDAN (The Illuminae Files) &amp; Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Reboot,</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>SPOILER WARNING for the Illuminae series. Events from all three books may be mentioned.</p>
<p>This series takes place 100 years after the events from the Illuminae series. It's a friends to lovers romance between my original character, Lilly, and AIDAN, our favorite AI. Will go from fluff to smut with appropriate warnings. </p>
<p>This is a romance between a human female and a (male?) AI computer system, so if that is not your thing don't read it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Lilly Riftwood endured yet another endless tirade from her supervisor, she tried to nonchalantly make herself as small as possible. She wasn’t remarkably tall, at 5’7”, but she felt that part of Dr. Richards' deep disdain for her was due to being shorter than her. He seemed supremely offended that he had to look up at her to yell, so she tried to hunch down to his level. However, since he was 5’1”, this was a difficult and so far unsuccessful endeavor. Lilly tried to focus on the words he was spewing at her, but as it always amounted to ‘you did this wrong, as you do everything wrong, including being taller than I’ she felt her mind drift and her eyes move to the clock embedded in the wall. </p>
<p>Twenty minutes until her shift was over, and she could head back to her small room, maybe grabbing a snack on the way. She was thankful to have a space to herself, though already tired of sharing a bathroom and kitchen with nine strangers. </p>
<p>“You should feel lucky,” her professor had said, “that you even get to continue working in this field at all.” But Lilly didn’t feel lucky, she felt tired. Tired of making herself shorter, tired of doing grunt work for barely decent pay, tired of being glared at and lectured every shift, tired of this portal station, so small and fragile against the vastness of the universe surrounding it. </p>
<p>“Do it again”. Dr. Richards bit out, and this caught her attention. </p>
<p>“What?” she started slightly, and his beady eyes squinted. </p>
<p>“Do.it.again.” Lilly had just finished an hour of paperwork, and she tried to restrain herself. </p>
<p>“What did I do wrong?” He stared at her as if she was a particularly persistent fly. </p>
<p>“I don’t have time to teach you everything, Miss Riftwood, if I did, I wouldn’t need lab tech at all.” He looked her up and down, “Though I’m not sure you really deserve the title.”</p>
<p>His childish insults had stopped burning at some point, her skin thickening in self defense. She simply nodded, having learned not to argue. He grunted at her obedience, then smiled; a gross stretching of his wrinkled skin that looked ghastly on him. </p>
<p>“Also, we had a trash drop off, go swab it before you leave.” Her eyes flicked to the clock, fifteen minutes left in her shift and Dr. Richards had just given her 2 hours of work. She almost wished she had the willpower left to argue this, but she really didn’t. Lilly simply asked which one he wanted her to do first. </p>
<p>Dr. Richards glared at her, swatting his hands about, “I don’t have time to organize your schedule.” He huffed and walked away, but Lilly just waited. Sure enough, he stopped at the door and bit out, “You’d better swab first though, don’t make the maintenance department wait just because you can’t keep up with your job.” He left before she responded, so she simply grabbed the sani-cart and made her way down to the service deck.<br/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>
The Pompeii was still on a skeleton crew, the gate technically operational but still in testing phase for another month. History had taught the importance of safety measures when dealing with holes in the universe. So as Lilly wandered down the halls, pushing her sani-cart ahead of her, she saw only one other person. As she passed the giant windows she tried to force herself to look out and enjoy the incredible views surrounding her, but all she thought about was the reality of where she was. </p>
<p>The Pompeii was the long overdue waystation to replace the Heimdall of Illuminae lore, and though technology had advanced in the past 100 years, it was still close to a perfect copy of the doomed vessel. It had almost been christened Heimdall as well, but people had objected since it had been the site of such atrocities and death. They had no such qualms about Pompeii however, apparently tragedy had an expiration date. Lilly had no problem with Pompeii as a place to live, but to combine that with Dr. Richards, and to be shoved out to the distant Kerenza system was a loss to her. It was not where she wanted to be, where she deserved to be. </p>
<p>But Pompeii was where she was, so with a shake of her head she scanned her security badge to let her inside the quarantine hanger. She stepped into a small antichamber, and suited up with a practiced air while the door sealed behind her. Once ready, she stepped up to the next door, which scanned her to make sure her white sani-suit had sealed correctly, helmet included. A small beep told her she was good to go, and as the inner door opened the remnants of a small spaceship came into view. It was really in rough shape, and Lilly doubted anything was worth salvaging, but she had a job to do, so she pulled out her case and started swabbing.<br/>
Lilly would collect around thirty swabs, checking every corner of the assorted metal pieces for anything usual. It was a sweaty, thankless job, as she bent and swabbed, making her way around the large piles of twisted metal. She took out her palm pad, covered in a thick plastic protection case, and was about to take a general reading of the room when a sharp noise sounded through the room. She whipped around, but saw nothing unusual. Stepping closer to the source, she finally spied a small wire plug sticking out. </p>
<p>She recognized it as a port connector, where you could upload your recordings from your palm pad- she would do so once she got back to the lab. Lilly knew better than to be tempted to plug in her pad here, where she’d have to break the case open and risk contamination. Her mind recalled the gruesome videos of the phobos virus, taken from the original Illuminae files, that were taught in her parasitology course. The phobos virus hadn’t been seen since then, but you always had to be careful.</p>
<p>Still, she couldn’t help drawing closer and brushing random metal aside to see the console clearer. She placed her palm pad next to the connector, and stared. Lilly wasn’t one to be tempted to break the rules, usually. But being here was not a usual situation, not for Lilly. Maybe it was Dr. Richards, or the thought of still having an hour's paperwork once she finished up here, but Lilly needed something to change. So, before she changed her mind, she popped open the case and plugged in the connector. </p>
<p>She held her breath, waiting for alarms to ring out, for a team of specialists to rush in and arrest her, but nothing happened. When nothing continued to happen, she let out her breath and went back to work. Lilly finished up thirty minutes later, almost forgetting the palm pad in her rush to get done. She had left it plugged in, and she pulled it out quickly, shaking her head at her foolishness. She tucked it away, not noticing the two lines of text that appeared on its surface. </p>
<p> [ERROR] </p>
<p>UPLOAD COMPLETE</p>
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